Gallery Label Joseph Wright of Derby was the first major British painter to work almost entirely outside London. Most of his patrons were merchants or industrialists from the Midlands or members of the local gentry. This portrait of an unknown lady was probably painted about 1770, the high point of Wright's early career as a portraitist, and is a fine example of the direct, descriptive style he employed—far removed from the artificial conventions favored in London society.
Provenance Josephine Mercy Heathcote Haskell, New York (until d. 1982); Heathcote Art Foundation (1982–86)
Exhibition History London. Tate Gallery. "Wright of Derby," February 7–April 22, 1990, no. 34.
Paris. Grand Palais. "Wright of Derby," May 17–July 23, 1990, no. 34.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Wright of Derby," September 6–December 2, 1990, no. 34.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion," May 3–September 4, 2006, unnumbered cat. (p. 153).
References David Fraser. Letter to David Moore-Gwyn . May 11, 1984, accepts the attribution to Joseph Wright of Derby and implies that the portrait may have been painted about 1770.in Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1986–1987 . New York, 1987, p. 37, ill.Wright of Derby . Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1990, p. 79, no. 34, ill. (color).British Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575–1875 . New York, 2009.
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